Greater Tampa Chapter and USF Art Students Seek to Raise Awareness of Camera Surveillance Through Street Performances
PHOTOS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 1, 2009
CONTACT:
Brian Becker, Greater Tampa Chapter, (813) 835-4472 or briangbecker@earthlink.net
Becky Steele, ACLU-FL West Central Florida Regional Office, (786) 363-2737 or media@aclufl.org
TAMPA, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida’s Greater Tampa Chapter, together with a group of performance artists from USF’s College of Art and Art History, will stage a street theater performance in Ybor City to raise awareness about the increasing “mission creep” of government through surveillance cameras. The event will coincide with WMNF’s Tropical Heatwave Festival the evening of May 16, 2009. The press is also invited to a photo shoot in Ybor City starting at 6:30 pm on May 1, 2009.
The “Camerahead Project” features performers donned in colorful costumes with oversized surveillance cameras for heads. They will conduct super-slow “missions” along Ybor City’s 7th Avenue, calling attention to the multiple surveillance cameras along the street. The Cameraheads will also interact with people in the Heatwave street fair area along 9th Avenue. A staged performance during the Heatwave Festival itself is also rumored, but due to its secret nature could not be confirmed at this point. The goal of the project is to raise public awareness of camera surveillance and the real threats to privacy that exist as we move closer to a surveillance society.
“We are constantly being filmed and photographed, but people may not even realize how much,” said USF grad student Justin Martin, who is the director of a group of USF art majors producing the project. ACLU Board member Brian Becker, adds: “We hope that through these performances we can raise awareness in the community and bring the dialogue about camera surveillance into the light of the day.”
A photo shoot will take place in Ybor City the evening of May 1, 2009, and pictures will be available after that. For more information, or if you are interested in taking photographs during the photo shoot, contact ACLU Regional Director Becky Steele at 813.451.7220 (cell).
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2009 Press Releases